Good article by Andrew Morse in Tech Central Station comparing the fake Rather documents and the rush to judgment by CBS to Carter’s rush to judgement in the Venezuelan recall. I love this sentence:
“The deficiencies exhibited by CBS and the Carter Center are problematic not only for big media and elite NGOs. Left unaddressed, they are problems that will eventually feed back into the blogosphere. The rise of the blogosphere has been predicated on the existence of a reliable, common base of information that people can discuss — a base of information that full-timers are still in the best position to provide. The blogosphere is most robust when it can draw upon the resources of media organizations with global reach that honestly vet sources and conduct comprehensive follow-up reporting. It depends on the boots on the ground that a Carter Center can provide to monitor elections in faraway lands. Without the work of an organization like the Carter Center, there might not be detailed election data from Venezuela to examine in the first place. “
For those that don’t know about the Dan Rather affair, you can read all about it at Instapundit, but basically somebody gave CBS fake documents that questioned President Bush’ National Guard service and the type of treatment he received while there. These documents were quickly debunked and found to be fake by bloggers in less than 24 hours. The giveaway? Easy, the documents were supposed to be from before the era of PC’s but were printed using one, which one could tell by the quality of the spacing and font!. More here too.
The Devil's Excrement 
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